Here goes.... a nice simple one to start with:
April 2nd 2014 - my journey to Berlin
We got up at about 6am in the morning - having got all the required luggage packed the night before - and managed to set off for Hexham railway station by 6.30am. Hel and her parents live about 45 minutes away from Hexham in the Northumberland countryside, but due to the early hour the roads were pretty quiet, and as such we managed to reach Hexham railway station at 7.05am.
This turned out to be pretty lucky, as - on the approach to Hexham - Hel's mother realised she had left her senior railcard at home. Arriving into Hexham early meant we were able to catch an earlier train into Newcastle than initially planned, giving Hel's mother time to buy a replacement railcard - thus enabling her to use the train tickets which had been reserved some time before.
Here would be a good place to note, in case I have not mentioned it in the past, that Hel's parents were coming to Berlin with us to mark the retirement of Hel's father, meeting up there with a family friend, Claire, who was travelling to Berlin from Manchester. The plan was therefore that myself and Hel would not see much of her parents nor Claire, but that their close proximity if required, and the ability to meet up with them for food in the evenings, would help Hel were the stress of the week, combined with her Aspergers Syndrome, to give her trouble.
Anyhow, our train from Newcastle to Kings Cross went pretty smoothly, as did the journey across London on the Tube to Paddington and thence onwards to Heathrow Airport. As this was the first time I had ever set foot in the latter location, it was a bit of an experience to find my way around the place to say the least!
After a few hours hanging around in the airport, I set foot on an airplane for my very first flight - and I have to say I was not particularly bothered by it. It was a bit less comfortable than a train, and the landing and takeoff both felt a little odd, but it got me where I wanted to go, and fast - and that was the important thing. Faster than anticipated, actually, as the Lufthansa strike meant that there were no queues at the runway when my flight came in to land at Berlin Tegel airport in the north-west of the city.
Before leaving Tegel, we took the opportunity to each purchase - as suggested on this thread - five-day Berlin WelcomeCards. These were a very useful and very important tool for the trip as a whole - we needed to buy a second, 72-hour card later in the trip, but with the amount of travel on the public transport system which the cards allowed, as well as discounted entry to the Berlin collections, it saved us hundreds of euro each to my reckoning. We put it to use straight away, getting the TXL bus from the airport to Alexanderplatz, before getting the U2 line from there to Senefelderplatz - only two stops from Alexanderplatz, and thus well-placed.
Senefelderplatz was a U-bahn stop with which myself and Hel would become intimately familiar over the next week, as it was only 80 metres from the hostel on Schwedter Straße where we had booked a room for the duration of our stay. As we got our booking-in sorted, Hel's parents continued up the street to the hotel about 300 metres away on Kastanieallee where they - and Claire, who had arrived in Berlin via Schönefeld Airport that morning - were booked in.
The hostel was EastSeven, and I cannot give it as high a recommendation as it deserves - it was small, quiet and most importantly provided affordable double rooms, neither Hel nor myself caring for the idea of sharing with people with whom we were unfamiliar. The staff there were incredibly friendly and helpful, and provided us with wristbands with which we could get discounts at one or two local coffee shops and cafes in the immediate area. Moreover, the hostel provided free Wi-fi, which was useful for checking weather, travel arrangements and so forth, and breakfast for a pretty cheap price. The fact that it was only 2 minutes from a U-bahn station, and thus permitted fast and easy transport around the city, was a real bonus.
The website for the hostel can be found here -
Berlin Hostel - EastSeven Hostel in Berlin - Germany - and I strongly,
strongly recommend that anyone visiting Berlin for a zoo-visiting trip consider staying there.
After dealing with the booking-in, Hel and myself then headed out towards the hotel where her parents and Claire were staying, and met up with them on the corner between Schwedter Straße and Kastanieallee. From there we wandered up the latter street looking for somewhere to eat, and came upon a Lebanese place which caught our attention:
Babel Restaurant Reviews, Berlin, Germany - TripAdvisor
The food there was damn nice - granted we were very hungry, and I have always had a soft spot for Lebanese, Moroccan and other such cuisine, but I suspect that objectively speaking it was certainly a good choice.
After we finished our meal, we said goodnight to Claire and Hel's parents and made our way back to the hostel. There, after briefly logging in online to confirm the arrangements we had made prior to our flights to meet up with Animal at Tierpark Berlin the following morning, we went to bed and fell asleep pretty promptly, ready for the busy day ahead......
I'm sure you guys will have a great time and I look forward to reading your updates.
